"Vintage Lakewood Corner: Groundbreaking At Grant, 1969"
The Lakewood Historical Society, in conjunction with the Lakewood Observer, is reaching out to all of Lakewood, present and past, whether you live here now or used to call Lakewood home, to help us remember Lakewood’s history in photos. With this issue of the paper we announce the creation of the “Vintage Lakewood Corner." Each month, we will post a different photo of Lakewood’s past along with the story that goes with it, to help everyone remember what Lakewood was, and get a feel for how the past informs the times we are living through now.
This picture was submitted by Bill Moorhead, who graduated from Lakewood High School, and now lives in Gahanna, Ohio. The picture he posted originally to our Facebook Site and now featured in our first “Vintage Lakewood Corner” is of the “new” Grant School groundbreaking in 1969. Bill’s mother, Joan Moorhead, was the President of the Grant PTA which is why Bill Moorhead is pictured holding the shovel. Also present are Mrs. Rauch, his first grade teacher, and Mrs. Tighe, Grant’s Principal.
Bill relates, "We were all very excited to get a new school. Our teachers told us about how the new school was going to be more open without all the classroom walls and (that it) would have a large library! It was fun watching the construction from my home across the street on Elmwood and, of course, we went and played there even though it was forbidden."
According to Bill the “new” Grant was very special. "When we started the ‘new’ Grant, we learned that they combined some grades and even let the students help design their own courses,” Bill says. “In third grade, Jim Kirkpatrick and I designed a house, figured out how much it would cost to build and built a scale model (actually, Jim's dad did all the building)."
He continued saying, "My father, a teacher at Lakewood High School, was then the president of the Lakewood Teachers Association. There was a lot of disagreement about the "new" Grant--about the architecture, the open classrooms, and mixing the classes for example."
Grant, in its current late sixties incarnation, this year earned an “Excellent with Distinction” rating from the State of Ohio, along with its sister school to the north, Lincoln Elementary. Bill’s reminiscences offer a window into late sixties Lakewood that is fascinating.
What stories do your pictures have to tell?
If you would like to see your pictures of Lakewood’s past in the Vintage Lakewood Corner, submit them to the Vintage Lakewood Facebook page (at http://www.facebook.com/pages/edit/?id= ... 3047936066), or to the Lakewood Observer online, by
signing into the Member Center at http://www.lakewoodobserver.com and clicking on the Vintage Lakewood category. If you have actual photos and don't want to scan them into a computer, send them to Rhonda Loje, care of The Lakewood Observer at 14900 Detroit, Suite 205, Lakewood, and remember to send a self-addressed stamped envelope, so your photos can be scanned and returned to you.
The Lakewood Historical Society will choose a picture for each month's Vintage Lakewood Corner and publish it in the paper, along with posting it to the Vintage Lakewood Facebook page, and the Lakewod Observer's Observation Deck-- where you can see posts without signing up-- so the whole city can share in the fun and discussion, in whichever format you prefer.
Come join us in celebrating Lakewood's history.
